Mixed Bag for Young Golf Teams

The men’s and women’s golf teams constructed their rosters this year with the future in mind. Both teams are extraordinarily young and entered their seasons with goals of improving from match to match rather than winning championships immediately.

Though the men’s team struggled at times during team competition in the spring, the women excelled as the year progressed, coming together to win its second consecutive state title at the Massachusetts Intercollegiate Championship.

Women

The women’s team finished first of seven local squads at the Orchards Country Club in South Hadley on April 26 to win the honor of “Best in the Bay State.”

Sophomore Meredith Chiampa tied for first with a round of 80 in the one-day tournament and defeated Boston College’s Roxanne Somboonsiri in a playoff for the individual title.

Freshman Jeen-Joo Kang supported Chiampa’s low round with an 84, finishing third overall. Sophomore Eliza Schaar tied for seventh overall with a round of 89.

A week earlier, Kang had earned All-Ivy honors by shooting a 79-85-82-246 at the Ivy Championships in Jackson, N.J. to finish in a tie for fifth overall. Another underclassman, freshman Carrie Baizer, played some of her best golf of the season in New Jersey, placing 25th overall.

But as a team, the women placed fifth of six Ivy squads, a disappointing performance for the Crimson.

To conclude the year, Harvard righted the ship. The Crimson earned fourth place out of the 15 teams at the Northeast Intercollegiate tournament to end the year on a high note.

Though captains Maureen Shannon and Sara Leventhal are graduating, the other eight golfers on the women’s roster are all either freshmen or sophomores. This bodes well for continuing success next year and beyond.

“We saw a little glimpse of the future this year,” said Head Coach Warren Smith.

Men

For the men, a wise general led a young army in the 2001-2002 season.

Two freshmen, Matt Amis and Christopher Wu, and a sophomore, Andrew Klein, were three of the team’s top four golfers. The final member of the quartet was senior captain Andrew Malcolm. Malcolm emerged as a top performer in his junior year and continued his success last fall, beginning the season with a three-over-par finish (71-72-143) at the Army Invitational on Sept. 22-23.

As the spring season began, Klein emerged as Malcolm’s heir apparent. The sophomore was Harvard’s top finisher at the Yale Invitational on April 6.

Klein shot a 77-77-154, good for 13th overall in a field of over 100 competitors. Klein again finished first for Harvard at the New England Division I Championships, though the team was 10th of 19 overall.

This time, Klein was 11th of 82 golfers, shooting a 75-77-152 in difficult conditions.

“The course was difficult but I was disappointed in the way we played,” Amis said. “We’re still young but we would have liked to finish better at New Englands.”

Malcolm regained his touch at the Ivy League Championships, earning a place on the All-Ivy team with a three-round total of 223 (72-78-73), good for third place and five strokes behind tournament winner James Milam of Princeton.

Klein finished 10th, with Wu and Amis taking 23rd and 29th, respectively. Harvard finished fourth of eight Ivy teams in the tournament, the team’s best result in four years.

“We have a young team, so we’re looking forward to improving on our finish in future years,” Wu said. “I was happy with our performance as a team and, even though I was erratic at times, with my performance in my first Ivy tournament. It was a great learning experience.”

The men ended their season with an 11th place finish at the URI Invitational on April 26-27.

Malcolm will certainly be missed next season, but Klein appears ready to take over as a team leader. Sophomore Steven Mungovan and junior Joe Jackson—each of whom had individual success in the fall—could also join Klein, Wu and Amis’ pursuit of continued improvement in 2003.

GOLF

FINISH 5th at Ivy meet (women), 4th at Ivy meet (men)

COACH Warren Smith (women), Bob Leonard (men)

CAPTAINS Sara Leventhal and Maureen Shannon (women), Andrew Malcolm (men)

HIGHLIGHTS The women win the Massachusetts intercollegiate title in April. For the men, Malcolm earns All-Ivy honors with a third-place finish at the Ivy meet.